Coalition to End Discrimination The Coalition to End Discrimination (CED - pronounced "seed") was formed on May 2, 1993 to pass legislation that would add "sexual orientation" to New Hampshire's Civil Rights Law. This bill would make it illegal to discriminate based on someone's perceived sexual orientation in employment, housing and public accommodations. There are already exemptions for small businesses, religious institutions, and housing with a small number of units built into the existing Civil Rights law. This legislation has broad bi-partisan support and has been endorsed by a large number of organizations including the Catholic Diocese of Manchester, NOW and the AFL-CIO. For more information about CED and the civil rights bills, you can call the Gay Info Line at 603-224-1686, write to Brendan Denehy BDenehy@keene.edu, the moderator of CED, or send mail to: CED PO Box 74 Concord NH, 03302-0073. If you would like to become a member of CED, just contact us and we will put you on our mailing list. If you would like to give a donation, you can mail it to us at the address above. Donations to CED are NOT tax deductible. **** NOTE: CED EXISTS SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF AMENDING THIS LAW. ONCE THIS **** IS ACCOMPLISHED, CED WILL BE DISOLVED. CAGLR IS THE PERMANENT, GENERAL- **** PURPOSE, STATE-WIDE GLBT ORGANIZATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE History of CED As New Hampshire's gay and lesbian community has grown and strengthened, we have had to overcome many obstacles that have kept us divided and isolated. As a community, we have decided to actively work to remove those barriers and to foster the growth and strengthening of our community. While there are many challenges that face us and much potential that we can currently only envision, we have decided to focus our efforts and resources on those tasks and projects that would most benefit our community. For this reason, a number of individuals from across the state gathered together at the CAGLR office on May 2, 1993 to begin the process of including sexual orientation into New Hampshire's Civil Rights Law. The Civil Rights Law makes it illegal to discriminate against people based on certain criteria such as race, religion and marital status in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Exceptions were allowed for small businesses, religious institutions, and housing with a small number of units. By amending the Civil Rights Law to include sexual orientation, the state would make it illegal to fire someone because of their perceived sexual orientation. It would also become illegal to refuse to rent an apartment or to provide a service (restaurants, gas stations, etc.) to someone because you believe that they might be gay or lesbian. These basic civilities that most people take for granted is at the root of a great deal of fear and uncertainty in our community. Virtually all of us at one time or another have been afraid of what might happen if our supervisors began to suspect that we might be gay or lesbian. This threat continually hangs over many in our community, causing tension and self-censorship. If we are to advance as a civilization, we must treat each other civily - and we must have a government that encourages such civility. The bill was first introduced into the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1994 and was called HB1432. It was sent to the House Judiciary Committee where a hearing was held and the Committee recommended it's passage into law. HB1432 then went to the House floor where it passed by an almost 2 to 1 margin. It was then sent to a Senate Committee which also recommended it's passage. In the Senate, there was heavy lobbying on both sides and the bill was defeated by two votes. In 1996, the bill was reintroduced into the House as HB1294. This time, it was sent to the Judiciary Committee to be studied. This legal procedure is typically used for bills that are complex and need to be carefully studied before coming up for a vote. A side effect of this course of action is that the bill does not actually come up for a vote during that session of the legislature, but must be reintroduced into the next legislature where the results of the study will be used to help legislators decide whether or not to support the bill. CED supported this move because we believed that the study would give us an opportunity to document some of the instances of discrimination that have occurred in New Hampshire and to educate the public about the need for this legislation. As expected, the committee report highlighted the need for this extension of the Civil Rights Law. In 1997, the bill was again reintroduced as HB421. It has been passed out of the House by a vote of 205-125 and was recommended "ought to pass" by the Senate Internal Affairs Committee on a 3-2 vote. The bill now goes to the Senate where it will be voted upon on Tuesday May 6th. HB421 is endorsed by a large number of organizations including the Catholic Church, NOW, the AFL-CIO, NEA, PFLAG, the Concord Monitor and numerous other organizations. It has broad, bipartisan support and stands a very good chance of passage this year.